Adventures in Hecticicity

Yes, I said hecticicity. You know, when hecticification has occurred, resulting in a state of hecticicity. The word describes the final two weeks of the semester perfectly. Between setting, administering, grading and recording exams and scores, it's been a busy couple of weeks. The last two days have been especially busy with time divided between mind numbing paperwork and dealing with disgruntled students. ("I know I've earned a 'B', but why can't you give me an 'A' anyway?" or, worse yet, "I've earned an 'A', why did I get a 'C+'?"). I hate having to grade on a curve. Students with lower scores think they're entitled to a higher grade, just because there's space left in the 'A' section, and students with higher scores are punished with a rotten grade, even though they've earned an 'A'. Grrrrr.

After all that (and a lousy night's sleep on Thursday - stupid fighting alley cats) I didn't make it out of bed at 4 o'clock this morning to watch South Korea lose their chance at a spot in the Round of 16 in the World Cup. I woke up around 5, but didn't get up to watch the match. Campus was too quiet, so I knew we were losing. The first game we played was at 10pm, and we watched the game on a big screen in the Amphitheater. The next two games were at 4am. I got up to watch the first one, and ended up drifting off during the 2nd half, only to be awakened by a deafening roar coming from all the dormitories as Korea scored a tying goal. I didn't hear any roaring last night, so I knew South Korea bowed out of this years tournament with no goals in their final game. Luckily, England is still in the running, so I'm not left teamless in the next round. I'm still hoping Canada will eventually make it to a World Cup...haven't decades of dedicated Soccer Mom's been able to produce a winning national team yet? The first batch of 'em should be all grown up by now! C'mon guys, don't get your moms up at oh-dark-thirty in the morning for years, only to leave your nation stranded 18 years later!!

Since it's the fist day of my holidays, I'm still lounging (faffing, as my South African friends would say "faff" what a fun word.) in my pajamas contemplating a magnificent breakfast. I should let you in on a little secret though...I usually spend so long contemplating, that I get too hungry to make a magnificent breafast and end up with a bowl of cereal or a fruit smoothie. Sad, but true. Darn, and it just happened during the typing of that last paragraph. I think it was the parenthetical inclusion of 'faffing' that did it. Now I'm too hungry to make crepes with blueberry coulis. Cornflakes it is.

...why on earth do you guys keep reading this stuff????

Adventures in Aclimatization...

I now feel as though I've officially passed two very important milestones in my Korean adventure.

1) I must now have the right amount of kimchi, fermented soybean paste and tofu in my system to be attractive to Korean mosquitoes. This is my first year noticing multiple bites.

2) It's 31 degrees outside, and I wore a cardigan to class because I want to save my summer clothes for when it gets hot.

Adventures in Pyrotechnics...

The nice thing about living on a Korean campus is that there are fireworks to celebrate everything. This happens to be the 50th Anniversary of Daegu University, and celebrations kicked off tonight. Around 10:20pm, Catticus and I were sending off a couple of e-mails and getting ready to turn in for the night. Around 10:21pm, Catticus nearly fell of her perch as my windows rattled and the echo of the first boom faded away. I turned off the lights and headed for my balcony. My balcony has a perfect view of all campus fireworks displays. Tonight's display lasted about 15 minutes, and included some that I've never seen before. Some were shaped like hearts, and some just twinkled like gold dust. Next week is the student's festival, and there are usually fireworks both to open and close the ceremonies. I love fireworks. Catticus doesn't.

Adventures in Politics...

As you may have noticed, I don't blog about politics very often. It's usually because I have a tendency to tirade against idiocy - and then find out my facts are either incorrect or incomplete. I don't want my tirades against idocy to wind up being my own idiocy recorded for posterity. That being said, I think the connection below is pretty clear:

In 1998, hard-core Republicans were doing their best to oust Bill Clinton, by any means necessary. When asked "...why the Republicans would persue a course that was neither right nor constitutional, [Newt] Gingrich replied, 'Because we can.' ".*

I think there are thousands of folks in Afganistan and Iraq, thousands of folks who have had their phones monitored and thousands of folks who haven't seen an increase in mimimum wage since the Clinton Administration (...insert any other examples you can think of here) who illustrate exactly what happens when a group of people that act unconstitutionally when they're not in power are granted power. They wind up consistently ignoring both international and domestic laws...because they can.

*Clinton,Hillary. Living History. New York: Scribner, 2003.

Adventures in Citrus...

A parcel arrived today from my sister. Included in the wonder-box were some things I didn't have room for in my suitcase at Christmas. While I was in Canada, I was fascinated by all the new and exciting items filling the shelves at Shopper's Drug Mart*. One of the the things I picked up was some Crest Citrus Splash*. Today was the first time I tasted it, and now I have a dilemma. On one hand, I love the taste of it. It tastes like an orange Creamsicle*, so after dinner if I'm feeling like some dessert, I can just brush my teeth instead. Same taste, fewer calories and fights cavities! On the other hand, since I'm a fan of citrus, I also use Febreeze* citrus air freshener...so my new toothpaste also tastes like the smell of my bathroom when I'm trying to make it not smell like my bathroom. Korea has a pine flavoured toothpaste, which I simply can't use because it tastes like Pinsol* bathroom floor cleaner. I think I'll be okay if I don't brush my teeth immediately after using the air freshener, or I could keep my toothpaste in my fridge, so that when I brush my teeth I'll really feel like I'm having a snack. See, I told you it was a dilemma.

*Good Heavens, that's a lot of name brands in one Blog post!

Adventures in Livestock...

This morning as I was rushing down the hallway in the Agricultural College building, I was acosted by, and nearly tripped over, a chicken. It darted out of a supply cupboard, clucking and squaking like...well, like a chicken. (No surprise there really.) While all the other buildings on campus are generally wildlife free, it's not unusual to be visited by cats, birds, rabbits, or puppies in this particular building. I wonder what it was doing in the cupboard? Maybe I'll look for some fresh farm eggs next time I'm going by.

Adventures in Tree Climbing...

I was thrilled when my niece showed a proclivity for climbing trees. I felt that perhaps it was time for me to give up climbing trees, and be content to leave the height-defying arboreal acrobatics to the young. Then, I read this article about Keith Richards (guitarist for The Rolling Stones) climbing a tree at the age of 62. Okay, he eventually fell out of the tree and got a concussion, but the fact remains that he was climbing. I think I should be on the safe side if I stop climbing at ... oh, maybe ... 60. That still leaves me 30 good tree-climbing years. Maybe K and I can climb together next time I'm home. Wait a minute, now that I think of it, my great-grandmother fell out of a tree at a nearly great-grandmotherly age. Mom, how old was she?

Adventures in Quick Naps...

I got home yesterday shortly before 1pm, and since my pottery class doesn't start until 2pm, I changed into my potting clothes, and flaked out on my bed for a quick 5-minute rest (I can't really fall asleep in 5 minutes, so these rests don't usually turn into naps). The cat curled up next to me, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up with the residue of some kind of Mermaid and Potato dream clearing itself from my brain. I stretched and looked at my watch, thinking I'd better hurry if I was going to make it to pottery on time. Wasn't I more than a little surprised to realize that 3.5 hours had passed! I'd missed pottery AND 1/2 of Oprah. On the other hand, I'm really glad to have a job where a 3 hour mid-afternoon snooze doesn't get me fired! I'll enjoy it while I can.

Adventures in Mischief Perpetrated upon William Blake...

(If you've never read William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, you should take a look at "The Lamb" and "The Tiger" before reading this post. It won't take long; you can Google 'em.)

I was curled up with my l'il cat this morning, and found myself quoting William Blake. Sadly, my cat is neither a lamb, nor a tiger, so my renditions needed to be altered. This was the result, with prolific apologies to Mr.Blake:

On Good Days ~
(From 'The Lamb')

Little kitty, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee purr
Coating all my pants with fur;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender meow,
Sounding better than a cow?
Little kitty, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee?

On Bad Days ~
(From 'The Tiger')

Kitty, kitty, taking flight
In the kitchen at midnight,
What imaginary fly
will you chase ‘til dawn is nigh?

Kitty, kitty, sharp'ning claws
On the furniture at all hours, (If you say this bit with a fake accent, it rhymes)
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? (Just like Blake himself expected these last two lines to rhyme)

Happy 80th Birthday!

Yup, Her Majesty is celebrating her 80th Birthday. I don't really have much to say about it, I just figured I would mention it. I've always been a fan of the monarchy, although I think is has more to do with a fascination for the gowns and glitter than for the job itself. Either way, I think the Queen has managed to hold on to a tough job with poise and dignity for a really long time. Having said all that, I honestly don't know the lady very well. Oh, sure, we've had tea together a few times, and there was that time in '99 that I lent her five bucks, because she 'forgot her purse at the palace', but beyond that, we're not all that close.

When I was a kid and had to clean the bathroom, I used to imagine that the Queen was going to stop by. It was on those days that I actually scrubbed all the nooks and crannies I could find...until I got bored and switched to pretending I was a TV commercial and I'd try to sell myself some shampoo instead. Once in a while, I'd imagine the Queen stopped by and I would try to sell her some shampoo. It never occured to me that she might not be in the market for 1/2 a bottle of Pert Plus. Maybe I should have sent her some for her birthday. It's got to make a better gift than the two black beavers Canada gave her once. At least shampoo is practical. What was my country thinking??

Adventures in Yellow Dust...
Spring is such a conflicted time here in Korea. On one hand, the cherry blossoms are fluttering to the ground like pink snow and the lilacs are starting to produce their gentle purple fragrance. On the other hand, China has started exporting it's noxious yellow dust. Every spring, wind picks it up from the Gobi Desert and hurls it across the Yellow Sea directly into the lungs, eyes, teeth and icecream cones of the residents of South Korea. From the picture above, you can see one of the storms that passed over the Korean peninsula recently. (It's the big dusty looking swoosh to the right of the picture...yup, there it is. You've found it now. The big mass of yuck that's not clouds, water or land.) From my perspective (ie, not one from a satelite) it just looks like a hazy, hazy day. However, don't let those tiny particles fool you into thinking they're harmless. The icky bits (particles) in today's dust were 2-3x higher than what US officials consider a 'hazardous' health concern. That's in Daegu. Seoul had twice as many icky bits. We usually get several dust storms a season, and hopefully we'll get rain tomorrow to dampen the spirits of this latest one before either my lungs or my icecream become permanently damaged.

Adventures in Pottery...

Tomorrow is Thursday ~ my favourite day of the week. Even though I have an early class, I finish teaching at noon, then head off to pottery class. The picture on the left is the largest/least wobbly piece I've made in the past 3 years. (And yes, since the flowers in it are green and blossoming, you can be sure they are fake.) I'm thrilled that so far this semester, none of my pottery has cracked, wobbled, toppled, warped or contracted a horrible case of the uglies. There are still many weeks to go before the semester is over at which point the pieces will face unforseen traumas lurking in the glazing/firing process. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though. So far, so good.

Adventures in New Furniture...

I've had my eye on this little table for a few months now, and finally decided to pick it up. I figured it would be a nice Korean souvenir when I (eventually) go back to Canada.

As you can see, there are 20 tiny little drawers filling the top 1/2 of the table. A word of advice, if you ever find yourself with 20 little drawers in a table in your foyer...don't put anything personal in any of them. Almost every person through my door has said "Ooooh, what cute drawers. Is there anything in them?" and they start opening the drawers at random.
I keep some spare keys, decks of playing cards and some gum in some of the drawers. I think I'll put a door prize in one drawer, and everyone who comes to visit gets to choose a drawer and try and find the prize. That'll be fun. Furniture and Fun all in one ~ what a buy.

Adventures in weather forcasts...

I checked the weather forcast tonight before heading off to bed. Next week is just not looking good:

Today	Tomorrow	Tue	Wed	Thu	6-10 Day
Rain Late High: 18° Low: 11°	Rain High: 16° Low: 10°	Light Rain High: 20° Low: 10°	AM Showers High: 22° Low: 10°	Showers High: 15° Low: 7°

Adventures in blossoms...

Cherry blossoms have finally erupted all over campus. I took my camera to class today, and the battery died before I even took my first picture, so the lovely photo on the left isn't mine.

I heard from one of my co-workers that some folks in Korea are trying to discourage cherry blossom festivals (very popular events this time of year!) because when the Japanese occupied Korea, they uprooted all traces of Korea's national flower, the Rose-of-Sharon. In an effort to demoralize Koreans, the Japanese replaced the Rose-of-Sharon with cherry trees. As a result, some Koreans equate the blossoms with the Japanese occupation, and don't think it's a cause for celebration. I tried to find some information about the story in the English newspaper here, but haven't found anything of that nature yet. No matter what the origins of the trees in this country, they are still lovely and I'll continue to enjoy them as long as they're in bloom.

Adventures in Template Changes...

After nearly 2.5 years of blogging bliss, I decided it was time for a change. (At this point, an observant reader will be thinking "Hmmm, baked cookies yesterday, washed all the dishes, and chose to change Blog settings... sounds like procrastination to me!" ) Such an astute observation would be quite accurate. I've got a stack of marking to tackle.

In the process of changing the template, I deleted some links to people that haven't updated their blogs in months (ahem!) and I added a link to a Pucca website. Pucca is the adorable l'il animated character above. Her website has some interesting little cartoons on it.

I hope you like the new look. If not, I'm sure you'll either get used to it, or stop reading. I hope you get used to it. I would be awfully sad to lose your readership.

Adventures in the Perils of Cookie Cooking...

Cookies are lovely
warm moist delicious velvet
breathe taste devour

There, that's my Cookie Haiku. I've jotted down that poetic nightmare (I think I can here the gasps of horror coming from Japan as I write) to illustrate the point that people don't usually discuss the perils of cookie making. My hips know the danger all too well, but by the time they realize what's going on, it's too late.

This evening after dinner, I decided to bake cookies. Tracy was at my house, so she did the stirring and mixing, I did the sifting and measuring. It's now well after 10:00pm and getting closer to bedtime...Tracy has gone home, the dishes have been washed and over 1/2 the batter is still left waiting for the oven. You see, the major problem is that I only have a toaster oven. The recipe that comes on the back of the econo-bag of Chipits is not meant to be baked six small cookies at a time. Even after doing our best to decrease the amount of cookie dough that would need to be baked (yum), we didn't even make a dent. I'm also feeling a little sick from all the sugary buttery batter in my belly. (Say that last bit out loud. It's fun.) So here I am, quite literally sick and tired, and my hips are just saying "I told you so."

Adventures in Odd Places to Stick Your Head...

This is a picuture of Catticus' latest favourite spot. When I'm working (or playing) at the computer, she'll leap up ontop of the CPU (?), turn her back on me, and stick her head down between the wall and the back of the computer. She'll stay that way for up to an hour. I can't tell if she's looking at something or sleeping. Whenever I try to peek, she turns her head and meows at me. Occasionally, she'll sit up and lick the pictures of my niece and nephew, then stick her noggin back down the crevice. Do you think I should start looking for a cat psychologist?

Adventures in biking...

Since spring has (sort of) arrived, I've been riding my bike to and from classes. It's nice to be out on the road with the wind in my face. It's not nice to be wearing sticky lip gloss and winding up with a swarm of little flies stuck to my lips when I get to the bottom of the hill.

Adventures in (ahem!) Spring...

After a few days of warm breezes, warm sun, and warm yellow dust I was convinced that Spring was making its way across the Korean peninsula.

Today, a gentle rain shower greeted me at 7:35 a.m. as I headed out the door. I took a large umbrella, but didn't throw on a jacket over my business suit. I figured I would be warm enough. I spent the next three hours staring out the window of my classroom wishing my classes a "Merry Christmas!" as impossibly huge snowflakes filled the air. Unbelievable. I think I might postpone the scavenger hunt I was going to do with my classes next week.

On a brighter note, today was my first day back at pottery class since last semester. It was nice to get my hands dirty again.